An act relating to dam safety

The entire new Section 52 of Title 20 was removed. This section would have required the Division of Emergency Management to complete or fund EOPs for ALL high-hazard potential dams with a population at risk of 100 or more, with deadlines of January 15, 2030 (for 1,000+ persons) and January 15, 2031 (for 100-999 persons). It also required training courses and templates for municipalities, geotagging of structures in the VT Alerts system, and mandatory emergency response exercises at least every five years.

The pilot project scope changed from two State-owned high-hazard potential dams each with a population at risk of 1,000 or more persons to one dam with a population at risk of 1,000 or more and one dam with a population at risk of 100 or more but fewer than 1,000. This broadens the pilot to test EOP development for a smaller community scenario.

The unofficial version adds detailed content requirements for each pilot EOP, including: coordination with each dam's emergency action plan and inundation maps; identification of evacuation routes based on possible inundation scenarios (including for medically vulnerable individuals); identification of evacuation destinations; engagement of managers of facilities housing vulnerable populations; planning for mutual aid and State resources; and implementation of pre-event communication and early warning systems including VT-Alert.

The reporting and recommendations section was substantially expanded. The unofficial version requires the report to include a scope, timeline, and budget for developing EOP templates and training for municipalities, and changes the focus of recommendations from 'how EOPs should be completed by other dam owners' to 'how EOPs should be completed for municipalities downstream of all State or federal dams.'

The funding sources recommendation was changed from recommending 'potential funding sources that the Division or individual municipalities could access' to recommending 'organizations that may assist municipalities in accessing potential funding sources and assist in the completion or compliance with an EOP,' shifting focus toward identifying helper organizations rather than just listing funding sources.

The education recommendation was narrowed by removing 'regional planning commissions' from the list of entities to be educated, now covering only 'municipalities and emergency service providers.'

The exercises recommendation was changed from recommending how often 'the Division, regional planning commissions, or municipalities should conduct practice emergency response' to simply recommending 'how often exercises should be conducted to validate the EOPs,' removing specific named entities and reframing the purpose as validation rather than practice.

A new definition of 'Whole Community' is added, referencing the Federal Emergency Management Agency guidance document FDOC 104-008-1 (December 2011) on A Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management. The Division must coordinate with and collect input from the Whole Community affected by each dam.

The entire new section 20 V.S.A. section 52 was removed. This section had required the Division of Emergency Management to complete or fund EOPs for all high-hazard potential dams with a population at risk of 1,000+ by January 15, 2030, and those with 100-999 by January 15, 2031. It also required training development, geotagging of structures in inundation zones for VT Alerts notification, and five-year emergency exercises.

The pilot project now requires one dam with a population at risk of 1,000 or more and another with a population at risk of 100 or more but fewer than 1,000. The House version required both pilot dams to have a population at risk of 1,000 or more.

The coordination requirement was changed from working with 'entities traditionally involved in regional and municipal emergency management' (listing specific groups like search and rescue partners and swiftwater rescue providers) to coordinating with the 'Whole Community' as defined by FEMA guidance FDOC 104-008-1, December 2011.

The pilot project report recommendations were narrowed to focus on 'municipalities downstream of' high-hazard dams rather than all such dams. The recommendation about funding sources municipalities could access was replaced with a recommendation for organizations that may assist municipalities in accessing funding and completing EOPs.

The report requirement changed from summarizing how the Division coordinated with specific named groups (municipal officials, search and rescue entities, swiftwater rescue partners, hydroelectric facility operators) to a broader 'who in the area of potential inundation' that the Division coordinated with.

The recommendation on exercises was changed from 'how often the Division, regional planning commissions, or municipalities should conduct practice emergency response' to 'how often exercises should be conducted to validate the EOPs.'

The unofficial version included a new Section 52 (20 V.S.A. Section 52) requiring the Division of Emergency Management to complete or fund EOPs for ALL high-hazard potential dams by January 15, 2030 (population at risk 1,000 or more) or January 15, 2031 (population at risk 100-999). This entire section is absent from the official version.

The pilot project scope changed from requiring one dam with 1,000 or more persons at risk AND one dam with 100-999 persons at risk, to requiring BOTH pilot dams to have a population at risk of 1,000 or more persons. This eliminates the mid-size dam component of the pilot.

The removed Section 52 included requirements for: coordinating with dam owners on EOP substance, geotagging structures in inundation zones into the VT Alerts system for occupant notification, mandatory emergency response exercises at least every five years involving all stakeholders, and development of training courses and templates for municipalities to use when the Division is not required to develop a plan.

The report requirements were substantially simplified. The unofficial version required detailed recommendations on: prioritizing EOPs for all high-hazard dams, whether the Division could complete all EOPs by 2035, federal dam authority issues, costs, funding sources, education strategies, geotagging approaches, and exercise frequency. The official version replaces these with a general recommendation on how EOPs should be completed by other dam owners and any other information the Division deems relevant.

The introduced bill's Section 1 (new 20 V.S.A. section 52) required the Division of Emergency Management to complete or fund EOPs for ALL high-hazard potential dams with a population at risk of 1,000+ by January 15, 2030, and 100-999 by January 15, 2031. This mandatory statewide requirement was entirely removed in the House-passed version.

The pilot project scope changed: the introduced version required both pilot dams to have a population at risk of 1,000 or more persons. The passed version requires one dam with 1,000+ and one dam with 100-999 persons at risk, broadening the pilot to test EOP development for smaller populations.

The passed version adds a recommendation requirement on whether the Division can complete an EOP for a federal dam or whether it may only assist local entities authorized under federal law, addressing a jurisdictional question absent from the introduced bill.

The introduced bill's requirement to geotag all structures in inundation zones for inclusion in the VT Alerts notification system was removed as a standalone mandate and moved into the pilot project's recommendations section.

The introduced bill's requirement for the Division to develop training courses, instructional material, and templates for municipalities to use in developing their own EOPs was removed as a standalone mandate and moved into the pilot report recommendations.

The introduced bill's requirement for mandatory emergency response exercises at least every five years for all high-hazard potential dam EOPs was removed as a standalone mandate and moved into the pilot report recommendations.

The passed version adds seven specific content requirements for each EOP, including coordination with existing emergency action plans and inundation maps, identification of evacuation routes for vulnerable populations (medically vulnerable individuals needing electricity or specialized equipment), identification of evacuation destinations, engagement of facilities housing vulnerable populations (schools, shelters for the unhoused, senior living communities), mutual aid planning, pre-event communication and early warning systems including VT-Alert, and any additional provisions deemed useful.

The passed version adds a requirement that each EOP set include an EOP for each municipality in the inundation zone of the dam, not just a single plan per dam.

The pilot report must now include recommendations on potential funding sources that the Division or individual municipalities could access to complete or contract for EOPs, and a scope, timeline, and budget for developing an EOP template and training program for municipalities.

The passed version adds a specific recommendation requirement on whether the Division can complete or contract for EOPs for all State or federal dams with 100+ population at risk by 2035, establishing a potential future deadline that was not in the introduced version.